Six Paths
Ugh I can't write I'm aware that some of the names of my OCs have been used before, but it was two in the morning and I was desperate. Anyway, this is my first fan-fiction and it's not that good in my opinion (though you can have whatever opinion you want on it.) Chapter One Spitfire was angry. Even angrier than usual. She'd been interrupted in her avid reading, early in the morning, to be taken to where she was now. Wherever exactly this place was, now that she thought about it. It wasn't like any place where she'd ever been before. Then again, she wasn't much of a traveler. She'd never even been out of the Sky Kingdom, not that this was something that she cared about. “Why did you bring me here?” she asked, glaring at the SkyWing that she had, at one point, had some respect for. “You were never going to survive in a battle,” Copper said. “It was better if I brought you here.” “To a field in the middle of nowhere?” Spitfire asked, glaring at her former flight teacher. “And who even are these dragons?” She pointed her tail sharply over at the five other dragons standing several yards away from the two SkyWings. “That's what I'm here to talk to you all about,” said Copper. “But first, why don't you all go around and introduce yourselves?” “How about no?” Spitfire said. “I'd be happy to!” said the dragon that Spitfire knew was an IceWing. She'd rarely ever spoken to many IceWings before. “My name is Graupel. I'm from the Ice Kingdom. I don't know why I'm here, but I'm REALLY excited to make some new friends!” “Tough luck,” muttered the NightWing next to Graupel. “And I'm Mermaid,” said the pretty SeaWing. “And I'm, like, super happy that I get this opportunity to do…like, whatever exactly it is that I'm here for.” She smiled at them all. There was a brief moment of silence between them. The NightWing sighed heavily and fluttered his wings. “Before I dispel any personal information to imbeciles such as yourselves, I believe I deserve to know why I was kidnapped and brought here without my own consent, and for what reason.” Copper sighed, scratching the earth beneath his claws. “Have any of you heard of Jade Mountain Academy?” “Assuming yes, continue,” the NightWing said. “Well, once you six in particular were invited to join, all of the available enrollments were filled up,” the older SkyWing said. “We still want you to learn about coexisting with one another so that there won't be as many wars.” “Why, though?” asked a scarred SandWing, tilting his head. “War isn't good,” Copper said cautiously, as if afraid that the SandWing would attack him. The younger dragon certainly looked ready to fight. “We don't want any more of them. So we've brought you here to form a sort of freelance academy.” “Oh,” said the SandWing. “Okay. My name is Flick. I fought for Blaze's army.” “That's highly uninteresting,” the NightWing said. He spread his wings, then folded them back up to his sides. “My name is Doomslayer. I am a NightWing prince, and my mind is unrivaled in the…” “We all know NightWings don't have powers,” said the SeaWing. “Even I know that!” Doomslayer looked at her dangerously. Spitfire caught the startling flash of color in his eyes. They were the greenest green she'd ever seen. “I never said that I had powers. I was telling you that I'm the most intelligent dragon in this field.” “That's pretty cool,” Graupel said cheerfully. “I guess.” More silence. “If we've stopped fighting, then I'll introduce myself.” The rich brown MudWing looked around at them all, offering a slight smile.“My name is Sage. I'm good at healing and I don't like to fight. That's pretty much all you need to know for now.” Spitfire didn't say anything, hoping that they would all ignore that she hadn't introduced herself. She wasn't shy or afraid of speaking in front of other dragons or anything. She wanted to see what these dragons were really like before she told them anything about herself. Copper cleared his throat and gave her a stern glance. “My name is Spitfire and I like fandoms but I don't really like social interaction,” she blurted. “I don't know what a 'fandoms' is,” Sage said. “But I respect your opinion and I will try to remember to leave you to yourself.” Copper clapped his talons together, excited that he'd gotten past this part of his day with no serious injuries. “That's all very wonderful. My name is Copper, and I'll be you teacher of a sort.” “What exactly will you be teaching us?” Flick, the SandWing, asked suspiciously. “Everything that you need to know,” Copper answered shortly. “Some of you may already know what I'm teaching you, but the point is that you're learning teamwork and cooperation.” “How is that supposed to help?” Spitfire, Flick, and Doomslayer asked, all at the same time. The three of them looked at each other, then quickly away. It was kind of weird that they'd said the same thing at the exact same moment, particularly since they'd only ever met today. “When do we start?” asked Sage. Copper looked up at the sky. “Tomorrow,” he decided. “It's getting late now. We'll find someplace a bit more hidden to stay until then.” Grudgingly, Spitfire followed the party toward the mountains. These weren't her mountains. She'd never been here before, and she didn't want to be here either. She hung back from the crowd, just so that no one would try to engage her in any “friendly conversation.” I'm sure there's more to these dragons than meets the eye, she thought. Chapter Two “WHY IS IT DAYTIME?” growled a voice frighteningly near Spitfire. One of her eyes shot open to find the NightWing, Doomslayer, sitting right next to her. “IT SHOUDLN'T BE DAYTIME. WHY.” “That's what happens when the sun comes up, Sir Poshness,” Spitfire said, standing up. She blinked blearily and stood up, stretching out her wings. “Maybe NightWings like you don't know anything about that, but everyone else does.” “I can't operate correctly in the sunlight,” Doomslayer said. “This is an absolute catastrophe.” “It's actually not!” said Graupel, hopping up to the two dragons. “Daytime is fun! Everyone is awake so you can make more friends!” “That, in addition to the numerous other problems daytime brings, is why I don't want to do this during the day,” the NightWing said. “As the most academically-fit dragon in this arrangement, it is vital that I stay ahead of the class for the entirety of the semester.” Sage stepped toward the others. “Hello, Graupel,” she said, nodding at the IceWing.“What are you all arguing about now?” “I'm not arguing,” Doomslayer grumbled. “I am merely stating that, as the cleverest dragon here, I should be allowed to choose the time of day that we are educated.” Graupel put his talons on Doomslayer's shoulder on what was obviously meant to be a sign of reassurance. “You're probably just shy. But don't worry, that's okay! You'll warm up eventually.” Doomslayer raised his chin and jerked his wings out from under Graupel's talons. “I am not shy,” he snarled. “I am above the standards of dragons like you all. I am an esteemed royal, in addition to being one of the greatest and, might I remind you, highly skilled NightWing assassins.” “Look,” Spitfire said, staring him straight in the eye. “I'm not even sure if I believe you or not. If anything, you're the sass in assassin, but other than that, I'm about 80% sure you're a liar.” “And I am 99.99999% sure that you, Spit, are wrong.” Doomslayer gave her one last scowl, then flounced dramatically out of the cave. They all watched him go. When he was nothing but a black dot on the horizon, Spitfire turned to look at the other dragons in the cave. Mermaid was just now crawling out from under a ledge in the side of the cave. “Who left?” the SeaWing asked. “Doomslayer,” Sage told her. “It's okay. He's just dramatic. He's probably had a troubled past.” “How can someone so pretty have a troubled past?” Mermaid sighed dreamily. “Giiiiiiiirl,” Spitfire asserted, putting her wingtips on her hips. “You'd be surprised. I recommend fandoms. You typically get too many emotions and your heart, metaphorically, gets ripped out, but it's TOTALLY worth it.” “I don't have time for that,” muttered Flick. He swooped down from the top of the cave, apparently out of nowhere, and swooped over them all. “You can have your silly little fandumb and I can face raw reality by myself.” He stepped out of the cave, wings clacking together. “EXCUSE ME,” Spitfire shouted, chasing him out into the field. He looked over his shoulder at her, then flapped into the air and started flying away from her. Spitfire, being a SkyWing, was naturally faster than Flick, and had soon grabbed onto the venomous tail barb at the end of his tail. “DON'T SAY IT IN THAT TONE. IT'S NOT PRONOUNCED LIKE THAT. HEY, GET BACK HERE!” Unfortunately, Spitfire's speed was merely good defense, and her fighting skills were far inferior to his. “wHaT,” the SkyWing screeched as Flick dig his claws into her scales. Spitfire frantically thrust her claws out to search for the SandWing's barbed tail. “wHY aRe yoU doinG thiS?” “I don't like being chased,” Flick snarled. “And I don't want any bothersome, moony-eyed dragons getting in my way.” “I'm NOT in your way!” she said. “And I didn't provoke you! You called my favorite thing DUMB! That is wrong on SO many levels, dude!” Flick glared down at her. “You do know that I've lived alone for most of my life and that most of what I've ever done is mindless battle, right?” “Oh, of course,” she said. “I did extensive research into each of your histories. I know everything everything about you and then some more.” “I hope that was sarcasm,” Mermaid whispered as she, Graupel, and Sage came out of the cave. “No, no.” Spitfire stood up and pushed Flick off of her wings. The straw-colored dragon tumbled down the side of the hill. “Mermaid, it's absolutely true. Every last bit of it.” “She's being sarcastic,” Sage said reassuringly, wrapping her tail around Mermaid's in a reassuring manner. “Don't worry.” “That would be really weird,” Graupel observed. “And kinda creepy. But cool.” “We shouldn't be late for our first day of school,” Sage said, spreading her wings in the sun. “Come on. I don't want to get into any trouble.” Spitfire flared her wings. “This isn't even an official academy. It doesn't really matter what I do, or what any of us do." "Whether it's official or not doesn't really matter,” Sage said with surprising fierceness. The four of them followed Flick and Doomslayer over to Copper, who was standing out in the field waiting for them. “Have you all had a good morning so far?” their teacher asked them, looking pleased with himself. Sage looked at Spitfire out of the corner of her eyes. “It was wonderful, professor,” she told him. “I've heard different,” Copper said, smiling. “And please don't call me professor. Calling me by my name is just fine.” “I'm sorry, Copper, sir.” Sage nodded, embarrassed. “Wait…no, sorry. I just can't not be respectful.” Oh, three moons, Spitfire said, rolling her eyes. This dragon is SO fake. It's just bizarre. How can anyone really BELIEVE her? “That's really cute,” Graupel said, smiling. He doesn't count, Spitfire reminded herself. His mind is just a pile of fluff. GOSH SPITFIRE, STOP TALKING TO YOURSELF LIKE A CRAZY DRAGON. YOU ARE NOT A CRAZY DRAGON. NOT ENTIRELY, ANYWAY. “Thank you.” Sage smiled back at him. Spitfire cleared her throat and waved her wings to pull their attention back to the task at talon. “PAY ATTENTION,” she yelled. “YOU DON'T WANT TO DO IMPERFECT WORK, RIIIIIIIGHT?” She raised her brows significantly at Sage. “Sorry,” Sage said, pulling her gaze back to the others. “Anyway. What will we be starting with?” Copper scratched his talons in the grass again, as he often did. “We'll be starting with hunting,” he said. “I want to evaluate how good you are at working in smaller teams. As time goes on, I'll make the teams slightly bigger.” “What are the teams now?” Flick asked, glancing narrowly out of the corner of his eye at Spitfire. Copper pointed to each of the dragons in turn. “Sage, you'll go with Mermaid,” he said. “Then Flick & Graupel, and Spitfire & Doomslayer.” Spitfire looked at Doomslayer, fear in her eyes as she realized what this hunting trip would mainly consist of. “Unrelenting sass,” they said in unison. Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete) Category:Fanfictions Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)